structure

Family offices in India have professionalised at an astonishing rate in the four years since Campden Family Connect was founded, but engaging the next generation remains a key concern and the coronavirus pandemic is causing pain as portfolios lose value.

The fourth anniversary this week of the pioneering global membership community for ultra-high net worth families in India was the ideal opportunity to take stock of what the family office space has achieved in the country, how it is looking now and where it can progress.

The year of 2019 was one when many of the six impossible things before breakfast remain unresolved—with the shining exception of Brexit, and the wider resolution of domestic politics. We can still feel the political earthquake which struck the UK last month—we cannot yet see the effect of it. Most political earthquakes, when they happen, are scarcely discerned, and even those which are perceived for what they are, do not easily reveal the new pathways created from the changed landscape.

There must be something in the Gujarat water. India’s westernmost state is the birthplace of some of the country’s best-known businesspeople—from Mukesh Ambani, to Azim Premji, and Uday Kotak. Enterprise is a cultural obligation for Gujaratis—with just 5% of India’s workforce, the state produces 22% of the country’s exports.

Australia’s leading family of brewers has restructured its senior management to enable the fifth generation to transfer from commercial to custodial roles while the upcoming sixth generation learns the business.

Coopers Brewery said the organisational restructure was designed to provide additional support for Dr Tim Cooper (pictured), fifth-generation managing director, and to provide a more effective and efficient engagement with customers. The changes included the appointment of a general manager and the recruitment of a national marketing manager.